A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from using the U.S. Postal Service to impose new restrictions on mail-in voting, delivering another legal setback to the president’s effort to overhaul how Americans cast ballots ahead of the November midterms.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ruled Tuesday that the Postal Service cannot implement part of Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at tightening requirements for mail-in ballots, The Guardian reports.
The decision expands on an earlier ruling from Talwani in June that prevented the administration from implementing the same portion of the order in 23 mostly Democratic-led states
Voting-rights groups had pushed the judge to go even further, asking her to block the Postal Service from enforcing the proposed requirements anywhere in the country.
At the center of the dispute is a proposed rule that would require states to provide the USPS with voter lists and adopt new procedures before the agency would deliver election ballots.
Under the administration’s plan, states that failed to comply could have had their ballots refused by the Postal Service.
The plaintiffs argued that USPS has no legal authority to simply refuse to deliver election ballots based on requirements imposed by the executive order.
Talwani’s latest ruling effectively shuts down another avenue for the administration to put those requirements into effect, at least while the legal battle continues.
The case comes as control of Congress hangs in the balance ahead of the November midterm elections, putting voting rules under an unusually bright spotlight.
The administration has argued that the changes are necessary to tighten election procedures. Voting-rights advocates, meanwhile, have warned that allowing the Postal Service to condition ballot delivery on new requirements could create a major obstacle for voters who rely on mail-in ballots.
However, the judge has drawn another line around the administration’s attempt to use the Postal Service to reshape the rules governing mail voting ahead of the midterms.
